Eclectic and striving never to follow paths into ruts, the OF Blog focuses on essays, reviews, interviews, and other odds and ends that might be of interest to fans of both literary and speculative fiction. Now with a cute owl for your enjoyment.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Fairly slow reading week, as I'm still working on wrapping up this unit on the Gilded Age. Fall Break can't get here soon enough!

309 Elizabeth Bear, Hell and Earth - Good, solid complement to Ink and Steel. Bear's prose is unobtrusive, which aids in developing a fast-moving plot with Kit Marley and Will Shakespeare's character interactions deepening in an appropriate fashion. Pleasant, light read that makes me curious to see how Bear will develop this time-spanning urban fantasy series.

310 Margo Lanagan, Tender Morsels - I hope to write a full review of this in the next couple of weeks. Suffice to say, I loved this novel and will have lots more to say later.

311 Theodora Goss, In the Forest of Forgetting - Excellent 2006 short story collection. Goss mixes real-world scenes and issues with more fantastical characters and plot developments to create a surrealistic bent to many of her stories. Her prose is outstanding and there were very few near-misses; no true duds and many excellent stories.

312 Jonathan Carroll, The Ghost in Love - If you've read one Carroll novel... Seriously, this was a well-executed novel with some interesting characters, but there were times that Carroll's thematic motifs, as well as some of his characterization, felt as though he were recycling elements from earlier novels. I liked it, but because of this sense of deja vu, it just felt a bit flat, like reading reheated leftovers.

Currently reading:

Jorge Ramos, La otra cara de América - I first read this book by Univisión's lead anchor back in 2004 and these short stories of Latinos, both native-born and immigrant alike, has provided lots of food for thought. I just used this in one of my classes yesterday to illustrate how nativist attitudes from the late 19th century are alive and well today.

Thomas M. Disch, The Wall of America - Posthumous short story collection coming out in November. Only have read the first story, "The White Man," and if that story is any indication, this might be the type of short story collection that I enjoy - witty, moving, and full of social commentary without ever straying towards that "preachy" territory that certain people despise.

Mark Schultz, The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA - OK, this January 2009 graphic novel release has made me curious to see how genetics can be explained in a graphic novel format. So far, I can see how this would be use in many high school classrooms, even if there are some in my native region that would be offended that God isn't referenced here...

October Plans:Hopefully, I'll finish the above-mentioned books before the weekend, then I hope to get some long-delayed reviews up and running. With more luck than I've had the past four months, I might have a half-dozen reviews, some of them shorter than my norm, posted on a wide variety of books, including some that I'm reading at intervals for my professional background reading. After all, teaching doesn't end when that last bell rings these days...

Read two interesting posts by Paolo Bacigalupi and John Scalzi this evening on the issue of whether or not a fiction writer ought to discuss politics on his/her blog. Scalzi in particular makes a very important point, one that hits very close at home for me:

Why yes, fiction writers should write about politics, if they choose to. And so should doctors and plumbers and garbage collectors and lawyers and teachers and chefs and scientists and truck drivers and stay-at-home parents and the unemployed. In fact, every single adult who has reason enough to sit down and express an opinion through words should feel free to do just that. Having a citizenry that is engaged in the actual working of democracy matters to the democracy, and writing about politics is a fine way to provide evidence that one is actually thinking about these things.

As a teacher, I have felt rather constrained by the nature of my profession. It has been drilled into my head from my earliest days on the job that there are just certain things that one does not discuss at length in the hearing of students or their parents: religion, one's personal opinions of certain school/community leaders, and politics of course. I have taken that to heart for the most part; I keep my personal life (including this blog) as far apart from my professional one as I can manage.

However, Scalzi is right (and how I wish he wasn't joking about preferring my beloved Vols over UGA...) in that when it comes to matters of import, why are people being reticent in declaring their preferences? I'm not exactly constrained by the Hatch Act, but there is that sense that I shouldn't be prosetlyzing when lecturing about the Social Gospel movement of the late 19th century. I'm not shying away from talking about the perniciousness of racism and nativism, for example, but yet when it comes to coming out and stating directly that I prefer the politics of Eugene Debs over that of James Blaine, I hesitate.

Could it be it's a worry that what I say might just lead to my dismissal, since I don't have tenure? Perhaps, since I do recall quite well being chewed out by an assistant principal my first year of teaching 9 years ago, all because I noted that some people have argued that the 4th Amendment's strictures on searches and seizures have been stretched to the breaking point; apparently I was being "anti-cop" and one student's father is a state trooper and they were upset that I would "imply" that he was "bad" or "not doing his job." I believe there was even a hint that I might not be rehired if I said anything else like that again. I resigned that position the following year and moved to another state to get away from that small town political atmosphere.

But yet it is something that looms over the heads of many teachers. We are held to a different standard. Joe Schlomo can spout out whatever he pleases about Obama or McCain (often with various slurs mixed in), but teachers are expected to shut our yaps and "learn them well." It is much easier to state one's opinions when one's job is not potentially on the line. But I am learning how to skirt around this a bit.

That being said, the Debs comment ought to be a hint about my political persuasions, even if I will rarely say it out loud. Nice to see Michael Palin is up there with McCain in contesting for second place, though...

Five books so far this week, four being books sent to me by various publishers and one being a novel by Arnold Zweig that I want to re-read as preparation for the World War I unit I'll be teaching in a month or so (care to guess what era is my favorite in both American and World History? ;)). The first picture is of the three books I received Monday, and the other picture is of the two books (including the Zweig) that I received today.

Left: Richard Morgan, The Steel Remains (I've liked his other work and am curious to see how it'll translate to a fantasy setting); Thomas M. Disch, The Wall of America (posthumous book by an author whose classic Camp Concentration will be reviewed/discussed here and on several other books on the week of October 13-17); Mark Schultz, The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA (OK, this ought to be an informative read at least, right, since I'm a social studies/languages person? Hrmm...)

Left: Scott Westerfeld, The Killing of Worlds (reprint of a series of his. Need to read the first book sometime); Arnold Zweig, The Case of Sergeant Grischa (I originally read this for a WWI History class back in the Spring of 1995 and I decided now would be a good time. Too bad I was dumb and sold my copy back then for money...)

Sunday, September 28, 2008

I'm taking a break from writing my lesson plans for this week, because a thought struck me while I was in the middle of trying to decide how much I ought to incorporate today's immigration debates (in both the U.S. and in many other parts of the world) with the 19th century mass migration of peoples from Southern and Eastern Europe and from China and Japan to the U.S., Canada, and Argentina (among others). In thinking about how to portray the nativist/anti-immigrant attitudes in a way that wouldn't be setting up a straw man (despite my own personal irritation at the antics of such odious groups as the Minutemen), I tried to think of which fantasy stories dealt with the migrations of peoples in a fashion that didn't indicate possible author biases against the migrants.

For the most part, I have failed to think of many positive examples. Tolkien, for example, has been criticized numerous times over the years for having a possibly racist overtone to his portrayal of the peoples of Rhûn and the Harad (not saying I agree with those criticisms, but rather noting that they exist). Elsewhere in other fantasy novels, even many of which purport to be about the "strangeness" of the world around, there is that sense of a vague threat looming, whether it be the newcomers (from the perspective of the main character(s) ) or the protagonist him/herself.

Perhaps I'm just missing the copious counterexamples that could be cited as proof that fantasy (I'm purposely leaving out SF, since I do know of examples there of a benign or at least non-threatening "first contact") stories are not uniformly filled with a sense of unease at the "alien" groups that are "moving in." Anyone care to share examples of stories that explore how such wildly different groups are seen to reach out and to integrate themselves in a fashion that runs counter to the notion that "different equals threatening"?

Because the U.S. Presidential elections seem to generate some discussion on various blogs/forums, I thought I'd post a list of the top 8 (plus 1) candidates for the office of President (because if I limited it to just the Big Two, I'd likely hear about it from someone). Curious to see if there's a correlation between my own political leanings (which I'll leave to the imagination for now) and those of the readers here. Plus for those who dislike politics and love humor, there is a choice just for you...

Dark Wolf asked me earlier this week if I would take pictures of my personal library, as part of a meme in which he's participating. I said I'd try to have something up this weekend, time permitting. But since all I have is a cell phone (an LG Chocolate, for those who are that damn nosy) with a crappy battery life to take photos, I have decided to modify the meme a bit to suit my own needs and interests.

In this post and at least two others tonight, you'll see a series of photos of the 200 or so non-English language books that I own. For the most part, these are mixed in with a few English-language titles, but I tried to have the photos focus on the foreign language ones. I have books published in Spanish, Latin, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Serbian, and Hungarian in these photos. I'll try to give at least some description of the title and language under each photo:Left: Jose Saramago, Memorial do Convento (Portuguese); Luís de Camões, (Portuguese); Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro (ed.), (Portuguese); Selected SonnetsComo era gostosa a minha alienígena!Ficçõoes: Revista de Contos Ano VIII - Número 15 (Julho de 2006) (Portuguese); Fábio Fernandes, A Revanche da Ampulheta (Portuguese); Ričard Bah, Galeb Džonatan Livingston (Serbian translation of Jonathan Livingston Seagull); Italo Calvino, Ako jedne yimske noći neki putnik (Serbian); Ј.К. Роулинг, Хари Потер и Дворана Тајне (Serbian Cyrillic edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets); Frenk Herbert, Arakis: peščana planeta (Serbian translation of the first third of Dune).

Four books received from publishers (two of them being the finalized versions of galley ARCs that I had received months before), along with one purchased short story collection.

Left: Jonathan Carroll, The Ghost in Love (I've enjoyed each Carroll book I've read, so I'm likely to read this one this weekend or next, time permitting); Theodora Goss, In the Forest of Forgetting (I've been curious about this short story collection ever since this interview Lotesse conducted with her last year); Margo Lanagan, Tender Morsels (finished reading it last night and it was superb, one of the best YA novels I've read this year).

Left: Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner, Juggler of Worlds (apparently this is a co-written prequel of sorts to Niven's Ringworld novels, but I'm uncertain as to whether or not I'll get around to reading this, in part because I've never read Ringworld); Kage Baker, The House of the Stag (I've only read one novella by Baker, The Empress of Mars, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, so I might get around to reading/commenting on this one after I read the first book in the series, as this is the second volume).

Friday, September 26, 2008

Ever since I read Shaun Tan's The Arrival, I have thought it'd make for a perfect illustration of how immigration impacted families as well as demonstrating the strangeness of the new country for the immigrants themselves. So I decided to incorporate it into a lesson on the immigration experience, a lesson that incidentally was being observed by my principal as the first of three scheduled evaluations this school year. So for those of you curious about how a fantastical tale can be woven into a social studies course, read on, or else be forewarned that there's some history stuff intertwined with this.

I began the lesson by having a simple question on the LCD projector: What is your ancestry? After a brief discussion in which the students discussed their ethnic origins (from virtually every continent on this planet, which was cool to learn in and of itself), I then had them in small groups for 5 minutes, working on coming up with at least three reasons why they thought people would immigrate. After they came up with answers such as "better life," "religious freedom," "political freedom," and "opportunity to get rich," there then was a short 15 minute Powerpoint presentation on the problems immigrants faced from the time they boarded the ships to the time they arrived - sleeping in bunks where they had to sleep on their side, no showers for hygiene, lack of sanitation, diseases like trench mouth - after 4-12 weeks of travel. So far, OK but nothing "Wow!" about it.

Enter the handout I made from the first chapter of The Arrival (with proper attribution, lest any worry about me violating Fair Use). Focusing solely on the images of the family home and the husband packing away and his wife and daughter crying as he boarded the station, I had the students describe what they saw in each and every frame. By the time I finished, just before the bell rang to dismiss class, I had several people saying, "Man, that's so sad!" or "Wow! This is moving!" I had a few requests for having more of the story presented to them next week when I continue the unit on immigration. The principal told me she really liked what I did with this part and that it really engaged the students and helped them realize just how human the story was.

And to think that this book technically is a "fantasy," because it is set in an imagined land and has some fantastical creatures in it. I guess it just goes to show that when presented properly, fantasy tales can hit a raw spot, one that helps us to better understand others and their experiences. Just thought a few of you might be curious to see how I incorporate this blogging element of my life with my paid profession.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Still musing over this review of Brent Weeks' The Way of Shadows over at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. Although when I first read it, there were other elements that annoyed me more, after reading a rebuttal posted on Fantasy Book News and Reviews yesterday, Pat's use of the label "YA" (Young Adult Literature) puzzles me more and more:

I reckon it's meant to be another dark and gritty fantasy epic, but it clearly doesn't fall into GRRM's "school of hard knocks" category. Although The Way of Shadows explores some very mature themes such as child and sexual abuse, the overall tone of the narrative is definitely YA. The resulting work makes for an uneven read, as the author tackles themes you'll never see in a YA work, yet the narrative appears to be aimed at a more adolescent readership. I have a feeling that Weeks might have been too ambitious to a certain extent, and thus he failed to deliver the emotional impact that would have made some scenes truly powerful.

Raise of hands for any others here reading this who might be confused by what Pat says there? Further raise of hands of any who immediately thought of Margo Lanagan's work, namely "The Goosle" and the upcoming Tender Morsels (fortutious timing on the latter). I'm going to guess that he is thinking that YA lit isn't supposed to deal thoughtfully and with a high quality of prose with certain troubling issues, but let's quote one more passage from what might be one of the more discombobulated reviews I have read in months:

Azoth and Durzo Blint will no doubt remind you of Salvatore's Artemis Entreri, Jarlaxe, and Drizzt. Entertaining characters, no doubt, but relatively clichéd. Some of the supporting cast seemed to possess more depth at first, yet as the story progresses you realize that it wasn't meant to be. And, though there are plenty of mature themes and graphic violence throughout this novel, the dialogues are a bit juvenile at times and not up to par in terms of grittiness. Again, the more YA tone of it all I mentioned -- not unlike R. A. Salvatore's works.

While all I know about Salvatore's work is that a large percentage of his readership was made up of those in his late teens, I don't think I've ever really heard of anyone else trying to make the case (regardless of how shallow and unsupported this case might be) for D&D-type novels of the sort Salvatore writes as being "YA." I'm just baffled at how Pat comes to such a conclusion with nothing cited as evidence, outside of an apparent lack of grace in the prose, a failing of a great many authors writing in a plethora of styles for a diverse range of intended audiences.

As I thought about this before going to bed last night, I couldn't help but wonder at the apparent vagueness of this "Young Adult Literature" label. I receive dozens of books each year that are labeled as "YA" somewhere in the press kit, from Cory Doctorow's Little Brother to teen writer Isamu Fukui's debut novel Truancy to D.M. Cornish's Lamplighter, not to exclude the aforementioned new Lanagan novel. I enjoyed each of these novels for very different reasons; each has their own style and storytelling mode. However, if pressed to define a common trait among these and other novels (from the Harry Potter novels to the ones just now hitting the market), it would be that there is a centering of the principal character focus around the needs and desires of an adolescent who is trying to comprehend a world that shifts much, much faster for the 12-20 year-olds with each passing year than it does for those older than that cohort group.

The language can be chaste or peppered with all sorts of choice profanities. Such a story could deal with vaguely sexualized "crushes" without there being graphic portrayals of sex; another such story could deal with the confusion that revolves around the unfolding of one's sexuality. There is nothing inherently "fluffy" or "light" in such stories, even if the emotions expressed might seem puerile to those of us who are older and more cynical about matters of the heart and loins. I have found that the best-written YA lit (defined here as being stories that focus on common adolescent themes and worries, often with a teen protagonist) is very frank and honest with its audience, even if the said audience is as disparate and divided as the stereotypical school lunchroom seating arrangement.

Perhaps others have a better, more concise definition than my own. I'm curious to hear some feedback on this issue, even if I'm supposed to be working on my presentation tomorrow. Thoughts, comments?

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

There are plenty would call her a slut for it. Me, I was just glad she had shown me. now I could get this embarrassment off me. Now I knew what to do when it stuck out its dim one-eyed head.

OK, this first paragraph from the Prologue to her upcoming October novel, Tender Morsels, made me curious when I received the book in the mail today. After having read the first 50 pages, this is a very promising start, as before I had read only her short fiction. It is shaping up to be one of those dark, brutal, yet touching stories, one that seems to address some very harsh and uncomfortable topics (for example, the lead character seems to be the victim of parental incest) that might make a few "critics" *cough*Truesdale*cough* eager to scream "pornography" to the high heavens. Needless to say, such people would have missed the beautiful pine forest for a few pine needles jabbed in their eyes and orifices.

Although I have a very busy couple of nights ahead, once Thursday's work is done, I'm looking forward to indulging myself further with this novel, as past experience has shown me that Lanagan really is a writer to make time for, regardless of the pressing deadlines.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Some of these books were partially read before this time, plus I took the day off Thursday, so there are more listed here than shall be the norm for most of the rest of the year.

301 Tim Powers, The Stress of Her Regard - I ended up liking this quite a bit. I have a soft spot for the English Romantics and having the lamia/vampire storyline serve as a symbol for drug abuse and excess made for an engrossing read.

302 Thomas Ligotti, Teatro Grottesco - Although I had heard of him before this year, I never really read more than a single short story until very recently. I need to buy more of his collections, despite their prohibitive costs, because these stories contained in this collection are haunting, with taut but beautiful prose that serves to lead the reader on, like a lamb to the slaughter, to conclusions that are frightening without ever devolving into splatterpunk explicitness.

304 Paolo Bacigalupi, Pump Six and Other Stories - I'll be saying much more about him in December, as this short story collection has a place reserved for it on my Best of 2008 shortlist for story collections.

305 Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho - Chilling, especially in all the banality that surrounds Bateman's horrific actions. That juxtapositioning made for a truly remarkable read.

306 Guy de Maupassant, A Parisian Affair and Other Stories - Maupassant is the 19th century French short story master. These are some of his more well-known stories. I think you can guess my thoughts on these...

307 Elizabeth Bear, Ink and Steel - this third Promethean Age novel and the first of a duology set in late Elizabethan era England explores having Marley/Marlowe and Shakespeare as being agents that protect the realm from sorcerors, among a great many other things. Bear's story moves at a fast clip and while I ultimately enjoyed it, compared to the novels before it was rather light on the symbolism. Sometimes, one needs a little break, I suppose...

308 Nisi Shawl, Filter House - I had read many of Shawl's stories before now, but this new collection that came out late last month reminded me again why I think so highly of her stories. She mixes in African folk magic with futuristic elements to create a form that is pretty much sui generis without ever failing to be accessible and marvelous at the same time.

Currently reading:

Elizabeth Bear, Hell and Earth - About 50% done, this novel is shaping up to be a worthy complement to Ink and Steel.

Robert Graves, Good-Bye to All That - I first read this for a Cultural History of World War I undergrad course back in the mid-90s, but I wanted to re-read this remarkable memoir in preparation for a unit I'll be teaching in November on World War I.

Shaun Tan, The Arrival (re-read that won't count in my yearly total, since I read it again back in January) - I'm in the process of selecting images that'll be used in a classroom presentation later this week, time permitting.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Or rather, words that I wish people would refrain from using in their commentaries and reviews:

1. Mainstream - it's just gauche and makes me think of very conservative talk show hosts and their audience who use the title as a pejorative. Just...stop...it. "Mainstream" literature means what, pray tell? Things you don't like? If that's the case, just shrug and move on.

2. Gritty - I find that sensation when I am ill, lay in bed for most of a day or two, and don't brush my teeth. I don't find it in literature. I have read bleak, unforgiving stories on occasion, but none of them contained sand in one's mouth/body parts or the similar sensation when one's teeth have not been brushed for a day or two.

3. Controversial - it's such a passé claim now. Controversy is manufactured more often than not and if I want something pre-fab, I'll buy something from IKEA, not from someone trying to stand out.

4. Edgy - sharp points annoy me, just like paper cuts do. "Edgy" I associate with those, not with literature that attempts to force the issue without just cause.

5. Scintillating - That word is to be used by Dicky V only. Got it? Good.

6. Best, (debut), novel - if these words are used in conjunction with a year without any real justification provided, forget it, I'm not buyin' it.

7. Shatneresque - oh wait, this isn't a banned word, but instead ought to be the epitome of what all should aspire to be.

"Bless you, that you not be taken. Bless you, that you begin in your time and that you end in its fullness. Bless you, in the name of the Redeemer, in my name, against the cruel harvesters of the soul, the takers of life. Bless you, that your life and each life shall be as it is written, for peace is born of completion."

Reviewing eighth volumes of series as massive as Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen is not exactly a thrilling task, as this late into the series (there are only two more books remaining in the planned main sequence) most readers will have already formed their own opinions about the series as a whole, not to mention have already weighed in on the thematic elements contained in each book. Therefore, there will be those readers here who will want to know if Erikson returns to a more action-packed storytelling mode, while others will be eager to learn whether or not Erikson has learned to curb his tendency to be verbose, utilizing too many points of view in an effort to shoot that plot/thematic development fly with a cannon. For those readers, Toll the Hounds may prove to be a problematic read, but for others who are not quite as dissatisfied with Erikson's work, this book may prove to be one of the more revealing novels in the series, both in regards to its own plot and theme developments as well as to furthering an understanding of the series itself.

The action here has shifted back to the continent of Genebackis, specifically to the cities of Darujhistan and Black Coral, somewhere around five years after the events of the third book, Memories of Ice. This region, devastated first by the ten years of war between the invading Malazan army and later by the depredations of the Pannion Domin and its cannibalistic Tenescowri, still feels the effects of these conflicts. Erikson utilizes many PoVs, from the former Bridgeburners Picker, Blend, and Antsy to the former caravan guard Gruntle and his companion Stonny, to the various members of Darujhistan's council to show what changes have taken place in the interim. As a whole, it is an effective reintroduction to a locale that has not been visited for five books, although Erikson skirts close (as he tends to do in most of his novels) to providing too much information, too fast.

In this region between Darujhistan and Black Coral, two new cults have developed. One is dedicated to worshipping the futility of life, its ever dying moments full of despair and its rapacious frenzy to claim and to use up before the life spark is extinguished. Embodied in the patchwork puppet-like body of the Dying God, this delirious, maniacal force is at odds with the second cult, that of the Redeemer, whose willingness and ability to grant absolution serves as the antithesis of the Dying God. But this Redeemer, whose cult began around Itkovian's barrow, is very young and weak and throughout the novel, the question of whether or not redemption and its attendant spirit of forgiveness can overcome the rapaciousness and destructive forces of hatred and nihilistic self-denial looms large.

Toll the Hounds also contains the continuing subplots of the Tiste peoples and Mother Dark's abandonment of them to their own fates of tragic murder and betrayal. Anomander Rake serves not just as a principal character in this novel, but also as the symbol of a people who struggle to find a purpose in a life filled with regret and the burdens of brutal, bloody mistakes. In addition, the Dying God has begun infilitrating the Tiste Andii, with the early takeover of the mind/body of Clip, Rake's "Mortal Sword" serving to illustrate the very potent threat of nihilism to a people inured to millenia of despair and seemingly futile attempts to redeem themselves to Mother Dark and to they themselves.

Traveller's quest to reach Darujhistan for a fateful encounter with a force that has devastated his past serves as the third main beam of this novel. Driven by revenge and bearing a sword that has the dual names of Vengence and Grief, he relentlessly pushes on towards the city to a long-fated confrontation, one that his companions, including Karsa Orlong, cannot comprehend. His search for redemption in retribution and its aftermath symbolizes a very common reaction of people who believe they shall find their redemption in revenge. All too often, the consequences are more than what most can imagine.

These thematic elements drive Toll the Hounds and made for a mostly compelling read for me. Although Erikson many times comes close to drowning these elements in dozens of PoVs that are not fully developed, many times little elements, such as that of two Teblor girls and their mangled canine companion, eventually come to represent some very key components to redemption. Those wanting hundreds of pages of battles or convergences may find themselves frustrated by the slow build, same goes for those who would prefer Erikson to pare down his PoVs to fewer than a dozen, but for those readers who enjoy seeing how an author can take certain themes and develop them in various subtle ways over the course of a novel, then those readers may find Toll the Hounds and its conclusions to the issues I hinted at above to be quite enjoyable and thought provoking. I myself was left thinking that Erikson's treatment of these themes of redemption, nihilistic self-denial and self-loathing, revenge, and the recovery from deep loss to be one of the best-developed in fantasy, especially in epic fantasy. While others may bemoan the lack of action for the first 4/5 of the novel, I found that there was a lot that was occurring under the plot surface that led to a plausible, satisfying conclusion, one that has left me excited again about the possibilities of this series and where it might conclude.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Six books pictured this time, although a seventh I ordered, Shaun Tan's The Arrival, is but a replacement for one that I sent overseas to my favorite stalker. First three books pictured are galleys or review copies sent to me by Random House or Tor, the others being books that I ordered from Amazon.

Left: Laurell K. Hamilton, Swallowing Darkness(Nov. release - doubtless even darkness itself has a sexual connotation now); David Sherman and Dan Cragg, Starfist: Wings of Hell (Dec. 2008 release, with a title that makes me wonder if it's military SF or demonic fisting).

Left: Steven Erikson, Toll the Hounds (eighth Malazan volume to be released next Tuesday according to the press release, but which might already be available in stores, currently 240 pages into it); Thomas Ligotti, Teatro Grottesco (almost done with this, with a review forthcoming in the next month or so)

Left: Paolo Bacigalupi, Pump Six and Other Stories(read the first story and am really curious about the others now); David Wroblewski, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (OK, I was curious. Bite me...)

I took the day off today. It is rather odd looking at this screen on a workday morning and not having it on educational/news-related sites, or hearing dozens of student voices. It is a reminder, however, that I really haven't had as much time these past couple of months to devote to blogging (particularly reviewing, which I haven't done in full since June) as I would have liked.

Every now and then, I ponder whether or not inviting people to write posts for this blog might be a good or bad idea. Although this blog technically is a "team" blog (there are four others who have access to posting/editing here), for the past year and a half, I've basically flown solo. But perhaps there has been a stagnation that has set in as a result; the work demands might just be an excuse. That is something that does worry me on occasion, since I would rather have a "conversation" than a "monologue" here. Maybe new voices would inject more life into this blog, ignite discussion/controversy on occasion, and just make this blog more worth people's time to visit.

Or maybe the opposite would take place. Perhaps the person/people chosen to make guest posts would be dull and their commentaries and reviews would detract from the overall focus and feel of this blog. Possibly having this could be a monumental mistake that would weaken this blog and its appeal to its vast readership that has swelled into the mid-hundreds in recent months. Or maybe not. I just am undecided right now.

So me being me, I thought I'd just float this idea out there. There's a poll available now regarding this idea (nothing is confirmed or set in stone as to which direction I'll go), so feel free to vote on it. Most curious to see how the vote goes.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Thomas Ligotti may very well be the best horror author I never read until this year. Umm....let me rephrase that a bit. He just might be the creator of some of the creepiest stories that I've come across this year. A bit better, although this too does not do justice to his stories. However, based on the recent graphic novel adaptations of eight of his stories, The Nightmare Factory: Volumes 1 & 2, I believe Ligotti is deserving not just of my attention, but also that of readers of dark fantasy and horror.

In the two graphic novels (covers pictured to the side), Ligotti uses several motifs most familiar to those who enjoy Edgar Allan Poe's darkest tales: Outsiders, outcast in some form from society; inversions of ritual and ceremony; explorations of human attempts to "master" self and fate. In addition, in tales such as "The Last Feast of Harlequin" and "Dr. Locrian's Asylum," there are certain supernatural elements present, if only hinted at for much of these two tales, that resemble some of H.P. Lovecraft's most famous tales.

But Ligotti does not merely ape these two acclaimed writers. While most of my reading to date has been of these graphic novel adaptations, even there in modified form, there is a great sense of pacing and word choice that is distinctive. Hopefully, tonight and later this week I'll have the chance to read the just-released (as of Sept. 16) American paperback version of Teatro Grottesco, which contains 3 of the 8 stories found in the two graphic novels, in addition to 10 others. I hope to have at least a capsule commentary up this weekend (I'll be off work on Thursday and might have the time to complete three long-delayed reviews, if I'm luckier than I have been; if so, then Saturday's commentary might expand into a 750-1000 word review).

But based on what I have read, Thomas Liggoti is one of the rare few authors of horror that I actually can stomach reading; Poe and some of Stephen King's earlier short stories, as well as Ray Bradbury's occasional forays into horror motifs being the few examples of works that I enjoyed greatly. Shall be interesting to see how I'll view the graphic novel adaptations after I finish reading this collection. Looking forward to the experience, even if it might cost me some dearly-needed sleep.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Not as many books read this week due to near-daily meetings either before or after school that sapped me nearly of the will to live, much less to read. But hopefully these very short capsules will contain things of interest to people here:

297 Taha Muhammad Ali, So What - I've already blogged this past week about this Palestinian poet's collection of translated poetry and I'll just reiterate here that I found this collection to be a very strong, direct, and sometimes cathartic collection of poems from the 1980s-early 2000s.

298 Thomas Ligotti, et al., The Nightmare Factory: Volume 2 - This second graphic novel adaptation of four more Ligotti stories continues the excellent combination of spooky illustrations and very good storyboard adaptations of Ligotti's stories. Highly recommended for those who are curious about Ligotti's works and want to read them for an affordable price (although the paperback reissue of his Teatro Grottesco is coming out on Tuesday), as well as for those who are curious about how Ligotti's stories translate into the graphic novel medium.

299 Brian Evenson, Last Days (ARC edition) - This is an expansion of a 2003 limited-edition novella. It is a dark mystery (among many other things - going to be busy unpacking this more at length near the end of the year, since the book isn't going to be released until February 2009) which ultimately left me satisfied. But a re-read is going to be in order before I can determine just what it was that affected me during the reading, not to mention noting the book's strengths and weaknesses.

300 Ma Jian, Beijing Coma - Forget any possible biases against "mainstream" novels. This isn't a stereotypical bourgeois novel. Instead, it is in turns funny, biting, sad, serious, and most importantly, a very imaginative work that details the experiences of narrator Dai Wei's limbo-like existence as he spends a decade recovering from a bullet head wound received at Tiananmen Square during the 1989 democracy riots. Floating between the past and present, Ma's Dai Wei and his lovers, his troubled family life, and his associations from the 1960s to 1989 serve as powerful metaphors for the horrors, cruelties, and transformations that take place in China both then and afterwards. This is one of the better 2008 releases I've read and those writing novels in particular might benefit from seeing how Ma utilizes character perspectives and scene breaks to construct a novel that is as ethereal and dream-like as it is based on the realities of China's emergence as an economic and military world power.

In progress:

Tim Powers, The Stress of Her Regard - Took a mini-break to read the above works this past week, but I'm 3/4 into the novel and hope to finish it later tonight. Very good read so far. Nice analogy can be made to the lamia afflicting Crawford and the Romantic poets and the various chemical/pyschological demons that cause so much suffering today.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

An additional 9 books have been bought or received from Wednesday-Friday and for those of you (apparently less than half according to the latest poll figures) that are really interested in these, the first two images are of the five review copies and the final one of four books I bought in a local store on Friday. Can you tell a difference here in my reading/buying habits as compared to much of what I receive these days?

Bottom-left: Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; Guy de Maupassant, A Parisian Affair and Other Stories

Between this and the other books bought/received this week, I have lots of reading ahead. And with a week-long vacation coming up in 4 weeks, it'll be a nice time to read, I hope. Now off to watch some college football and to work on composing my first true review in months.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Good to see there was a fairly equal distribution of books voted upon in the previous poll. But since both Thomas Disch's Camp Concentration and Tim Powers' Last Call both received the same amount of votes, I guess I'll have to end up choosing the book myself.

While both are very worthy and would make for excellent discussion/review pieces, I believe Disch's book packs much more per page and therefore deserves attention just a bit more. Therefore, Camp Concentration is the inaugural pick for this informal blogger book club. For those participating, buy or borrow a copy and on the week of October 13-17, post a review of the book and give me a link, so I can edit it into a post I'll have available. Also, don't forget to leave comments and questions on the various blogs that may participate in this.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

One of the benefits of seeking out and reading books and poems written from different cultures and languages is the sense of the greater story that emerges inside their writings. I just started reading the Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali's So What and the poem "Ambergris" just grabbed my attention. Notice how bitter Ali is here, but also take note of the references to land, age, delay, and betrayal, as each element is interwoven in a different fashion to produce an excellent poem, even in translation:

Ambergris

Our traces have all been erased,our impressions swept away -and all the remainshave been effaced...there isn't a single signleft to guide usor show us a thing.The age has grown old,the days long,and I, if not for the lock of your hair,auburn as the nectar of carob,and soft as the scent of silkthat was here before,dozing like Arabian jasmine,shimmering like the gleam of dawn,pulsing like a star -I, if not for that lock of camphor,would feel not a thinglinking meto this land.

This land is a traitorand can't be trusted.This land doesn't remember love.This land is a whoreholding out a hand to the years,as it manages a ballroomon the harbor pier -it laughs in every languageand bit by bit, with its hip,feeds all who come to it.

This land denies,cheats, and betrays us;its dust can't bear usand grumbles about us -resents and detests us.Its newcomers,sailors, and usurpers,uproot the backyard gardens,burying the trees.

They keep us from looking too longat the anemone blossom and cyclamen,and won't allow us to touch the herbs,the wild artichoke and chicory.

Our land makes love to the sailorsand strips naked before the newcomers;it rests its head along the usurper's thigh,is disgraced and defiled in its sundry accents;there seems to be nothing that would bind it to us,and I - if not for the lock of your hair,auburn as the nectar of carob,and soft as the scent of silk,if not for the camphor,if not for the musk and the sweet basil,if not for the ambergris -I would not know it,and would not love it,and would not go near it...

Your braidis the only thinglinking me, like a noose, to this whore.

The rest of this en face bilingual poetry collection is promising to be around that same level of quality. This is some good shit, especially for a day like today, when I often would find myself questioning what keeps people working hard in my own country, when so many around just seem to take it for granted or would rather exploit it and its people more than anything else.

The past few days have seen the arrival of six galleys/ARCs and review copies, as well as five more books that I ordered from Amazon. First, the galleys, from two sources, the recently-established Underland Press and from Tor:

Top-left: Brian Evenson, Last Days; Will Elliott, The Pilo Family Circus.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

While many of these are just completions of books I had already begun or were short (under 200 pages), thanks to the Labor Day holiday weekend and a lessening in grading duties (sadly, this week will be a killer for me, though), I managed to complete the following books:

284 Alissa Torres, American Widow (non-fiction; graphic novel).

285 Janet Chui and Jason Erik Lundberg, A Field Guide to Surreal Botany (illustrated book, already discussed back on August 15 - enjoyed the book quite a bit).

286 Vladimir Nabokov, Pnin (This short novel made me smile, before realizing just how heart-rending it was in places. Need to read more Nabokov, I see).

287 Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet (stream-of-consciousness collection of this Portuguese master's thoughts on a whole host of issues)

288 Richard Parks, The Long Look (ARC for a September 2008 release, this book about an "evil" magician cursed with a sense of premonition which forces him to act to avert even more heinous events was a very good read, although there were places where the dialogue seemed to need a bit more polishing. Still, a worthwhile read.)

289 Alan Moore, Watchmen (graphic novel; this might be one of my favorite reads for this year so far. More later, if time will permit in the coming weeks)

290 Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red (novel set in 16th century Ottoman Istanbul in which a murder mystery is revealed among a discussion of representative art and the furor it aroused at the time. Enjoyed the book, will certainly re-read it in the coming years.)

291 Fábio Fernandes, A Revanche da Ampulheta (Brazilian SF novella that I'll need to re-read more carefully in the next few months, as while I got the gist of it, much of the story's meaning has fled me during the passage of the past week, since I don't think in Portuguese. I do recall enjoying what I understood of the tale though and I hope I'll have something much more substantive to tell Fábio in the coming months when I re-read that and his other two stories that he sent me last month.)

292 Salman Rushdie, The Enchantress of Florence (while not his best work, I found it to be a well-written tale, but more on it later, I hope.)

293 Naguib Mahfouz, Children of the Alley (this Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian author's allegory about the feuds and fighting among the three main Abrahamic faiths is moving without ever being maudlin. Highly recommended.)

294 Jeff VanderMeer and Rose Secrest (eds.), Leviathan: Volume Two (this 1999 anthology didn't work as well for me as did the 3rd and 4th volumes, but perhaps the fact that I read it during the week while tired from school duties might have something to do with my lack of enthusiasm for stories by authors such as Stepan Chapman and Rhys Hughes that I normally enjoy greatly.)

295 George MacDonald, Lilith (this 1895 novel was lyrical and its prose held up rather well for me, but the story ultimately was a bit sparse in places.)

296 Milan Kundera, The Joke (just finished reading this earlier today. Much to think about, but the levels of meaning behind the word "joke" throughout the multi-PoV story make for a reflective, often devastating read. Kundera, along with Mahfouz, are two authors that I glad I discovered this year.)

In Progress:

297 Tim Powers, The Stress of Her Regard (recent reprint of a 1989 release, I am roughly 25% in and enjoying it so far. More later, time permitting this week.)

For the record, I've read 4 books the past couple of days and barely anything during the workweek. I tend to finish off the remaining 150-200 page chunks of novels rather than read all of them in a linear, serial fashion.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

So much is in the eyes and ears of the beholders. One person's "purple" is another's moving passage. In a day and age in which the semicolon seems to be destined to the same fate as the English Subjunctive, when complex clauses in which there are several dependents that serve to modify the thrust and meaning of the main, but at the expense of some fearing commas the way that another might fear heights or open spaces, one has to wonder at the changes wrought during the past few decades.

There's an interesting discussion here about "prose overdose." The authors named almost universally were some of my favorites; their prose is beautiful to me. But it seems that for many, "transparent" prose is the bee's knees, since most of the authors lauded by those who disdain the "purple prose" writers tend to be those who write in a rather minimalist style, even when some elaboration would have helped those stories.

With this in mind, I decided to read George MacDonald's 1895 classic, Lilith. Peppered throughout the book are passages such as this:

All at once, a radiant form stood in the centre of the darkness, flashing a splendour on every side. Over a robe of soft white, her hair streamed in a cataract, black as the marble on which it fell. Her eyes were a luminous blackness; her arms and feet like warm ivory. She greeted me with the innocent smile of a girl - and in face, figure, and motion seemed but now to have stepped over the threshold of womanhood. "Alas," thought I, "ill did I reckon my danger! Can this be the woman I rescued - she who struck me, scorned me, left me?" I stood gazing at her out of the darkness; she stood gazing into it, as if searching for me.

She disappeared. "She will not acknowledge me!" I thought. But the next instant her eyes flashed out of the dark straight into me. She had descried me and come to me!

***

She poured me out a bowlful of milk, and, handing me the loaf, begged me to break from it such a piece as I liked. Then she filled from the wine-jug two silver goblets of grotesquely graceful workmanship.

"You have never drunk wine like this!" she said.

I drank, and wondered: every flower of Hybla and Hymettus must have sent its ghost to swell the soul of that wine!

"And now that you will be able to listen," she went on, "I must do what I can to make myself intelligible to you. Our natures, however, are so different, that this may not be easy. Men and women live but to die; we, that is such as I - we are but a few - live to live on. Old age is to you a horror; to me it is a dear desire: the older we grow, the nearer we are to our perfection. Your perfection is a poor thing, comes soon, and lasts but a little while; ours is a ceaseless ripening. I am not yet ripe, and have lived thousands of your years - how many, I never cared to note. The everlasting will not be measured.

"Many lovers have sought me; I have loved none of them: they sought but to enslave me; they sought me but as the men of my city seek gems of price. - When you found me, I found a man! I put you to the test; you stood it; your love was genuine! - It was, however, far from ideal - far from such love as I would have. You love me truly, but not with true love. Pity has, but is not love. What woman of any world would return love for pity? Such love as yours was then, is hateful to me. I knew that, if you saw me as I am, you would love me - like the rest of them - to have and to hold: I would none of that either! I would be otherwise loved! I would have a love that outlived hopelessness, outmeasured indifference, hate, scorn! Therefore did I put on cruelty, despite, ingratitude. When I left you, I had shown myself such as you could at least no longer follow from pity. I was no longer in need of you! But you must satisfy my desire or set me free - prove yourself priceless or worthless! To satisfy the hunger of my love, you must follow me looking for nothing, not gratitude, not even pity in return! - follow and find me, and be content with merest presence, with scantest forbearance! - I, not you, have failed; I yield the contest."

She looked at me tenderly, and hid her face in her hands. But I had caught a flash and a sparkle behind the tenderness, and did not believe her. She laid herself out to secure and enslave me; she only fascinated me! (Chapter XXV, "The Princess")

MacDonald's prose probably leaves many of you reading this shaking your head at the flagrant abuse of exclamation points, commas, dashes, and semicolons. But perhaps for some of you, these punctuation marks, aided by the rhythm of the triple modifiers (such as the "outmeasured indifference, hate, scorn!"), served to give a sense of flowing meter to the passages cited above; I certainly found it to work despite the near occasions of falling into the mortal sin of becoming untrue to its own self. For me at least, the descriptors serve to add subtle hints of mystery and possible deception into what might, at first glance, be but a saccharine-filled paean to capital L Love. Likewise, the allusions to scenes from ancient Greek myth, such as that of the wine, serve simultaneously to ground the story in a mythic setting, while the prose and the dialogue serve to accentuate just how "otherworldly" this setting truly is. It is a fine balance, but for the most part MacDonald manuevered his way well between the Scylla of too little exposition and the Charybdis of too much description at the expense of the story.

However, for many, this is just too much. For them, the focus is lost admist the tangled weave of the verbal labyrinth; even Ariadne couldn't provide the necessary thread for these erstwhile Theseuses to find their bearings. Less is more, even at the expense of a more varied hue and pitch to the stories they read. More is lost than just in translation, it seems. A pity, or perhaps not? What do you think on this issue, as well regarding the quoted MacDonald passage?